Welcome to another installment of Use Em' or Lose Em', this week we will be spotlighting two more Islanders players:

Jeff Tamballini: Tamballini has been a very on again off gain player who has been up and down from Bridgeport to Long Island for so long he has his a special seat reserved for him on Port Jeff ferry. So far he's matched his goal total from last season, 7, and has nearly matched his points total. He's appeared in 24 games, and recorded his first career hat trick back on Halloween night 2009. However he has failed to score a goal sine November 23 in Toronto. To make matters worse for the kid, he has been an on and off scratch since the arrival of Rob Schremp, who seems to have found his niche in Gordon's system, and hasn't played in two weeks. It seems management is scared to let him go in fear that he will become a consistent, quality player somewhere else, but after five years with the Islanders organization I say it's to set Tamby free.IHB VERDICT: Lose Em'

Andy Sutton:Coming off an injury laden season Andy Sutton has stepped up to one of, if not the best Islanders defenseman this season. He leads the team in block shots, also making the list as one of the league leaders in that category, has been a BIG presence on defense laying into opposing teams heavy and hard, all while also managing to help further develop young D-man Jack Hillan. Sutton's contract runs out after this season and it would be wise for the Isles to hold onto this stand up veteran who knows how to bring a tower of power and pain.IHB VERDICT:Use Em'

Tuesday night's Isles/Pens game has left many with a sense of anger and disgust, but not with Andy Sutton. Much of the uproar has been with the comments made by the Islanders broadcast team after the hit. Billy Jaffe and Howie Rose allegedly are said to have blamed the victim, Pascal Dupuis, for leaving himself extremely vulnerable and that's what caused the outcome. Many Penguins fans have not taken to kindly to that and hell who couldn't blame them. When a player on your team goes down fans take it to heart and will not take kindly to any negative words said.

While fans may be cooling down they still feel a tad disrespected. Pensblog summed up their frustration with this simple insult, "well if we had to watch the Isles all season, we'd be jaded too."

So to Billy and Howie I say this, next time choose your words more carfully to make sure not to insinuate purposly or accidentally that the victim is some how at fault.

Ever since Islanders defenseman Andy Sutton laid out Penguins LW Pascal Dupuis last night, he was assessed a 5 minute major penalty for boarding, a 10 minute game misconduct, and most recently a 2 game suspension.

This meaning that Sutton, the Islanders best D-man, will miss Tomorrow night's game versus the Florida Panthers and Saturday's game against New Jersey.

This all happened when the Islanders were defending in their zone halfway through the third period. Dupuis, turning, went for the puck behind the net and by this time, Sutton thought Dupuis would turn all the way around to have his shoulder aligned with the boards. While in fact, Dupuis didn't turn all the way around and Sutton was already committed to the hit and accidentally slammed Dupuis' face into the dasher.

A pool of blood formed, Islanders goalie Dwayne Roloson waved over assistance, and while teammates Sidney Crosby and former Islander Billy Guerin escorted Dupuis off the ice, Andy sutton was swiftly escorted to the penalty box, thus making the islanders skate shorthanded for the majority of the remainder of the period.

Andy Sutton was visibly upset about hurting Pascal Dupuis. They have been friends for a long time, teammates in Minnesota and Atlanta. On the season, Andy has 11 points, he's the second highest scoring defenseman on his team( second to Mark Streit). In 09-10 he has 63 penalty minutes, 15 of which came last night. Those 15 are the only penalty minutes Sutton has been assessed because of a hit. He is a clean player, not a goon like Chris Simon, who gave the Islanders a bad name (I hope he's having fun in Russia).

While Andy is sitting out Thursday and Saturday, his fellow defensemen will have their work cut out for them. (Okay maybe not against the ECHL-caliber Florida club but DEFINITELY against the Devils). So in AS25's absence, expect a shakeup in Scott Gordon's defensive pairings. More news on the matter of this suspension is likely to come so keep up with it here at IslandersHockeyBlog.com

The "DP" Chants started well before the drop of the puck and continued throughout the game. Last night marked Rick Dipietro's first start on home ice in nearly 13 months, so needless to say he wanted to show the home town crowd hes still got it. He was tested early and often in the beginning of the first make several saves, although leaving many rebounds for the Sabres to put back in. Lucky for him his teammates were there to pick up the lose pucks. With solid D in their own zone the Islanders scored the first goal of the game at 5:38 of the first courtesy of John Tavares. Tavares broke his nine game goal-less streak scoring just his second goal in 17 games.

In the second The Islanders would add to their lead, Andrew MacDonald made a beautiful pass to Bergenhiem who redirected past Olympic net minder, Ryan Miller. The good times would come to a screeching halt just 30 seconds later as Mike Grier would slip one past Dipietro to bring the Sabres back with one.

The third would come with controversy and heart break, Richard Park got a shot past Miller to give a 3-1 lead. But wait, the ref waived it off on what was called goaltender interference. As replay showed from every angle that the call on the ice was a bad one and Richard Park was robbed of a goal, (not a good week for NHL officials). Then at 9:35 Drew Stafford tied the game forcing OT and then a shoot out. In the End Ricky got his first win and the Islanders got a much needed 2 points.

As the Islanders faced off against the Red Wings, right from the first minute, the Islanders dominated, scoring 3 goals against Jimmy Howard, and another 3 against Chris Osgood, winning 6-0, and defeating the defending Western Conference champs.
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